In a quiet session, Dow sets a record

NEW YORK - The stock market crept to a record high in a quiet session on Monday.

Investors had little news to weigh because most major companies have finished reporting first-quarter results.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 26.32 points, or 0.1 percent, to close at 18,298.88. The Nasdaq composite rose 30.15 points, or 0.6 percent, to 5,078.44. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 6.47 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,129.20.

Among the winners was Apple, which rose $1.42, or 1 percent, to $130.19. Activist investor Carl Icahn published a letter Monday calling for the technology giant to buy back more of its own stock. Icahn said Apple is worth $240 a share.

The pair have fought the last couple years, but Icahn has been mostly successful at getting Apple to increase its share buybacks and dividends recently.

Though the S&P 500 has notched record highs for three straight days, strategists caution that it will be difficult for the stock market to move substantially higher from here.

First-quarter results are tallied, and the Federal Reserve appears to be waiting to raise interest rates until later this year.

"We will need to see a clear turnaround in the economic data and start to see earnings growth for investors to find some confidence in this market," said David Lebovitz, a global market strategist with JPMorgan Funds.

There were a couple minor corporate deals to work through. Ann Inc., parent company of Ann Taylor and Loft stores, jumped $7.69, or 20 percent, to $46.40 after it agreed to be acquired by Ascena Retail Group.

In energy markets, the price of oil fell Monday for the fourth straight session. Oil has been drifting lower on high supplies of crude and fuels, and a rising dollar has been making oil less attractive to overseas buyers.

Benchmark U.S. crude fell 26 cents to close at $59.43 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oil used by many U.S. refineries, fell 54 cents to close at $66.27 in London.

In other futures trading on the NYMEX, wholesale gasoline fell 1.6 cents to close at $2.041 a gallon, heating oil fell 1.8 cents to close at $1.987 a gallon, and natural gas fell 0.6 cent to close at $3.010 per 1,000 cubic feet.

U.S. government bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.23 percent, from 2.15 percent Friday.

The euro slipped to $1.1304, from $1.1390 Friday. The dollar climbed to 120 yen, from 119.38 yen.

In metals trading, gold rose $2.30 to $1,227.60 an ounce, silver rose 17 cents to $17.73 an ounce, and copper edged down two cents to $2.91 a pound.